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Geocaching and the Mars Perseverance

 Good morning everyone.  It's off to Michigan, the home of Bob Billy the Redneck Geocatcher.  The very first cache placed was 'Hilltop  GC33.  Hidden on May 27, 2000 this cache was found 14 times before being archived in July, 2002.  The oldest active cache is 'Power Island'  GC35.  Hidden on July 16, 2000 this oldie has been found 1,241 times and has 610 favorite points.  The cache with the most favorite points is 'Geocache 612'  GC36.  Hidden on August 21, 2000 this cache has been found 1,970 times and has 775 favorite points.

If you've been off the grid this past week, then you may have missed a big event in the geocaching world.  To tell a story properly, you should always start at the beginning.  The beginning of this tale goes back to July 30th, 2020.  That's when NASA launched an Atlas V rocket destined for Mars, carrying an S.U.V. like rover named Perseverance, and a small helicopter named Ingenuity.  What does this have to do with geocaching?  Attached to the rover is the first interplanetary trackable.  When Perseverance takes it's first picture of the trackable, it will become discoverable to the geocaching community.  



This past Thursday, Perseverance touched down on the red planet, completing an almost seven month journey.  Canadian vlogger Cache the Line hosted a watch party to help celebrate the big event.  It was by coincidence that I was on vacation (or staycation since I didn't go anywhere) at the same time.  I was able to cast the party on to my TV and take part in the chat room.



Helping Cache the Line was another Canadian vlogger, Cache Canada.  They were joined by numerous guests from Geocaching HQ.  There was a Madlib style game, and a trackable that Cache the Line had for the viewers to discover.  The stipulation to discover this particular trackable was you needed to be wearing tinfoil hat on your head.  At one point in the watch party, Cache the Line showed some of the pictures submitted.  Included in some of the pictures was a couple of local cachers, dani_carriere and Marco Island Girl.



I was called away from the watch party and missed the landing.  There really wasn't much to see aside from the people at Mission Control jumping up and down and cheering.  Actual video and pictures of the landing was released on Friday.  If you missed the watch party, you can catch the replay here > Watch party

This isn't the first time NASA and geocaching did something together.  Back in 2013, American astronaut Rick Mastracchio got the coveted FTF on a geocache hidden in space.  You can read more about that here > FTF in space  I remember this as there was an event here to watch this happen.  The event was my 100th geocache found.


Getting back to the watch party, Cache the Line has reported that over 250 people from around the world has viewed his watch party.  Almost half of those entered a proper tinfoil hat selfie to his own trackable.  It was an awesome job by Cache the Line to host the watch party.  A ton of behind the scenes work went into getting things ready.  Too bad this couldn't be an actual geocaching event.  It was almost a mega event status.

For those that haven't found the trackable code yet, here is the trackable page.


Before I wrap things up, I want to remind everyone that there is one week left to enter my photo contest.  This month's theme was to send a picture of yourself (Singles Awareness Day) or with your geocaching partner (Valentines Day).  A winner will be announced in next week's (February 28th) blog.  You can send your entries by email to thegeocachingguild@gmail.com or message me on Twitter @thegeocachingg1.  Good luck to all the entrants.  This time around, it's winner's choice between prize package #1
A trackable button, pathtag, and fridge magnet.  Or....

Prize #2.  This trackable Star Trek themed coin.


Until then, be happy, stay safe, wash your hands and wear a mask, hug your furry critters, and most importantly, have fun.  Peace out.


Tinks and Sassy sitting in my bedroom window on a Saturday morning.



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